A Small Price for Friendship
by Be-Wherever-You-Are
Summary: What happens when an unlikely pair form a friendship during orientation?


Before we start, i would like to,eave a note that the Griffin headcanons are inspired off of conversations I've had with madamepringles on tumblr. Go check them out, they're awesome!

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"Helia, you cannot keep pulling stunts like this. Sneaking out past curfew?" Saladin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I cannot keep making excuses to your mother on why you cannot call. Do you know how she would feel about this?"

Said boy shrugged, letting his feet dangle. He was fourteen; two years younger than the enrollment age. Still, did that stop Saladin from enrolling this small child to the school? Nope. In fact, Helia managed to earn a scholarship without the help of his grandfather _or_ his mother.

Helia is, what you would call, a troubled child. He did things out of pure spite, because he strongly believed that he didn't belong. Red Fountain wasn't for boys like him. Boys like him belonged in other places, like art school. Still, Saladin told him to give it a year. See if he liked it. He already worked so hard to get there, so he should have been grateful.

Saladin gave him a look. "I'm not dropping this again. Not like the past two times, my boy. This time, you are to help Headmistress Griffin in the orientation for new witches. With you, will go Cether and Drane." Helia immediately let out a groan. "Seriously? I mean, I have nothing against witches, but why those two?" He said, crossing his arms. Saladin raised a brow. "Because clearly, I cannot let you go alone." Helia sighed. No doubt they would make fun of him for Saladin needing to send him _escorts_. "Please grandfather, let me go by myself. I promise I'll behave."

Saladin sighed. "..I'm being much too easy with you. Fine, you are to go by yourself. You are to go at eight am tomorrow, and return at five sharp. No dilly-dallying, and if you are to be late you are to call." He said, and Helia nodded. "Alright." And with that, Saladin dismissed him.

Helia headed to his dorm where thankfully his roommates were asleep. Quickly, he threw off his stuff, set his alarm for the next morning, and went to sleep.

-So it turns out, Saladin was a _liar._ They started at 10, making it so that Helia was hours early. So, he lounged around Griffin's office. How he had such permission, you may ask? In short, Griffin was like an aunt to him. When Saladin would bring him to Red Fountain when he was younger, he would see Griffen often. This woman saw him in diapers, so seeing him as a teenage brat in her office was nothing new.

"So, pray tell me, what did you do this time Ambrose?" She asked, a coy smile on her face as she knew what distress this question would bring to Helia. And distress did it do. He groaned. "I snuck out to the forest during curfew. It's not my fault he made the class un-doable without a specific herb from the forest!" he said, swinging up from the hanging position from the sofa. Griffin looked to him with a certain amount if fondness. "Helia, you were to get the herbs at class tomorrow." He shrugged. 'Had other things to do. Anyway, what are the witches like this year?"

Griffin sighed. "Cynical, hating, anything new? Just how I like them." She said, and Helia smiled at this. "Oh, but there was a specific group that I think will be right up your alley. Some special kids." This piqued his interest.

"Don't tell your grandfather, of course. But, these witches are quite the destructive few." Helia nodded, taking mental notes. "..Are they cute?" He asked, and Griffin laughed.

"I couldn't answer that, though they are rather.. Aesthetically, nice." She said, shaking her head. "Helia, is that what you're going to be wearing? Not that I have a problem, but you didn't bring your uniform?" Helia shook his head. "I _could_ run back and change, since he sent me this early." He sighed, and Griffin shook her head with a smile. "It's fine. Just quite normal to what you usually wear." She pointed out, and he shrugged. He was wearing a t-shirt and some skinny jeans. Ripped, yeah, but nothing special. "It's warm outside." Was his simple answer, before he stood up. "Hey, I think some students are getting here." He said, realizing that time had flew and they only had an hour. "I'm going to go greet students or something. You should do your job." Griffen rolled her eyes. "I should be saying that. Go shoo, boy, before I tell your grandfather you were slacking off."

And so, Helia spent a bit walking around. A few witches gave him rather dirty looks as he attempted talking to people, though some had been friendly enough. Some new coming witches' younger sister, Mirta or something, even babbled off to him about programs that even Helia hadn't known about. She was cute. Kinda reminded him of his childhood friend, Flora. He would have to watch out for her when she joined.

Soon enough, he found himself at the fountain about an hour later. Somehow, he had managed to rack up numbers without asking, so score on that retrospect. As he shoved them into his satchel, he couldn't help but noticed a girl. She was alone, and seemed to be a new student. She seemed to be talking under her breath as she scribbled stuff down in a notebook. As Helia inspected closer, he noticed some drawings and rather good ones at that. Huh. Someone in his crowd.

Well, to say that was an exaggeration because wow, she was really pretty. She looked to be around Helia's age,perhaps turning 15 soon enough. She had long, icy white hair and cerulean blue eyes that were a similar shade to his own. She seemed to have an aura of power, although looked to be approachable enough. Helia found himself standing beside her. Most of the students had already gone inside for tour, so it was weird she was here on her own. "Hey." helia finally spoke, and the girl's head snapped up as she hid her sketchbook. Her expression head shock, covered up by annoyance. "What do you want." She snapped.

Helia shrugged, dropping his stuff beside him as he sat down. "Oh, nothing. It's just most new students went inside already for tour, and you're definitely a newbie." He said nonchalantly. "Also, you look lost."

Icy gave him a look, though shrugged. "I mean.. I guess? I literally have no reason to talk to a witch like you. What are you, twelve?" Helia crossed his arms. "Fourteen, and I'm a student at Red Fountain. I'm helping out here because some punishment, or whatever." This seemed to pique her interest. "Oh, a bad boy? That sucks. Not as much as this conversation, though."

Ouch, okay. "Hey, just because I'm not a part of this school ,doesn't mean I don't know stuff. I know all the secret loopholes in this school. So-" He stood up, reaching out a hand "Care for a personal tour? You can leave at any minute. I swear it'll be more fun than the official one, and you'll know a lot more." The girl raised an eyebrow, before slowly standing up and taking his hand. "Fine, since you seem persistent. Still, anything funny and I'll cut you in half." Helia nodded. "I can believe that. It's almost happened a few times, though."

The girl hummed. "I can believe that. For a nobody, you talk a lot." Helia huffed air. "Hey, who said I'm a nobody? That's _rude_." He said, and this made Icy crack a smile. "Anywho, here's the entrance. The main entrance, but there are multiple if you want to sneak in past curfew. Stick around, and I'll show you some later." He said, and they continued on.

They walked on for a while, with Helia pointing out parts as they went along. He mentioned stuff that would have been in the main tour, along with stuff that only admin and he knew due to his relations with Griffin. Icy seemed to slowly grow open to him, as she begun making sarcastic remarks at small things. Truth be told, they were rather entertaining.

As they were about two hours in, Helia paused his tour guiding. 'Oh hey, what's your name, anyway?" The girl raised a brow. "Why would you want to know?" She said, though her tone read teasing. "The name's Izzy. Call me Isabelle and I'll snap your neck off." Helia chuckeld. "Hey, it's pretty. You should nickname it to something like Icy though." he could see a tinge of red on her face at the complement. She quickly regained composure though. "Icy? That's so lame." She said, although with a laugh. "I mean, I guess. It sounds pretty witch like. You're going to meet people with weird names around here, though." Icy looked curious. "Like those pixies at Alphea?" Helia nidded. 'Just like those pixies. They scare me a little, truth be told, with all of that friendship magic crap." He said, and Izzy nodded. "Definitely. I have a twin, and she's an absolute pixie. Doesn't go to Alphea, though she's definitely someone's favourite."

"Ooh, do I sense daddy issues?" He said, laughing a bit at Icy's scrunched face. "Hey, I'm kidding. Also, name's Helia." he said. Icy laughed at this. "Like the sun god? That's cute, except for the fact that you're literally so pale." They both chuckled at this.

They walked for a bit more, until Helia realized that it was time for lunch. 'Hey, let's go re-group in the dining hall. Food here is usually pretty good, but it's amazing today considering she wants to put a good impression on everyone. Let's go snag some." Icy nodded. "Let's."

As they walked to the hall, they continued talking. "So, _Icy." _He said, earning an eye roll from the girl. "Do you have any friends here yet? I assumed not because you were by yourself earlier, but.." Icy nodded. "I mean, I guess..? There are these girls, Stormy and Darcy. We're some type of related because some ancient people. They're okay, I guess." Helia laughed at this. "Oh my god, you _need_ to be called Icy. You'll sound like a loser if you're out with them and all you here is "Darcy, Stormy, and _Izzy_. Sounds too soft." he said, and Icy considered this. "I mean, you have a point." She admitted, and Helia grinned.

Helia was having such a good time, he didn't even notice some of the older Red-Fountain guys who had also been volunteering for the day approach the two, "Ooh, is that mini-Saladin with a witch? Thinks he's all that." The one guy said to the other. Something like Draven. Helia rolled his eyes, tugging Icy to his side. "Hey, grow up Draven. Literally no one asked for your opinion." He said, pulling Icy lightly as he wanted to get out of the way. Icy noticed this, and began to follow until one of the boys pulled Helia by the shirt.

"Don't fuck around, Ambrose. You need to quit acting up just because you're a-" Helia found himself let go, the older kid being held up by ice-crystals. He looked to the side, then up as he realized he was on the ground. Oh,there was Icy holding him up with ice. "Hey, I maybe a first year, but that's won't stop me from kicking your ass. Now, get out of here before i make you.' She said, and the guy's friend rolled his eyes, dragging his friend out of there. A moment passed as helia brushed himself off. "..Thanks. I guess that does make me a nobody, huh?" Icy rolled her eyes, standing beside him. "The biggest nobody. Guess I have to watch your back, shrimp." She said, although a small smile on her face.

The two made it to the dining hall without anymore confrontations, thankfully. The two grabbed some food, and Icy glazed over the students before spotting someone and tugging Helia along. "Found them. C'mon!" She said, dragging him along. "Wait, you want me to have lunch with you?" He asked, slowly, and Icy nodded slowly as if he was dumb. "Uh, yeah. Who else are you going to sit with? Those friends of yours from earlier?" He snorted at this. "True. Okay, if you're fine with it."

"I am.' She said, as they reached the table. Helia noted that the girls looked nothing alike although being related, though he wasn't to judge. One of the girls had purple, frizzy hair, and the second had long, brown hair swept up into a ponytail. They seemed deep into conversation. "-And then she was like 'Oh, you're straight, aren't you? You look it.' Like, what does that even mean?" The purple haired one said in a huff animatedly. The brown haired one seemed to be laughing at her. "Wow, they have their head on backwards if they think you're even one percent straight." She commented, and the other girl raised her arms up. "_Right?!"_

Icy snorted at her friends behavior, plopping down in a seat. "Ladies, I've returned." Icy said, and both heads popped up to look at Helia. "No thanks, I'm not interested to whatever club you're tynna sell." The animated one said, dismissing Helia. Helia laughed, taking a seat. 'Nah, your friend here said I could sit with you all." Stormy nodded. "Oh, cool." She said. Darcy shook her head. "-Wait, what? Izzy let a _guy_ sit with us? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She said, looking slyly to her friend. Icy flushed lightly. "Oh, shut up, Darcy. I found this dweeb outside, figured he could show me here."

"That's the cool way of saying she was hanging around outside and got lost." Stormy picked up, high fiving a laughing Darcy. "I mean.. I guess? Basically what happened." helia said, earning a nudge from Icy and more laughing from the two. 'Hey dweeb, you're cool to sit with us." Darcy said, wiping a tear that came from her laughing. "Which school are you from, anyway? Last time I checked, this school wasn't co-ed." Helia shook his head. "You're right. I'm from the hero school, Red Fountain. And before you say anything-" he said, noting the funny looks on the girls' faces "-I don't really like it there, either. Grandpa's the headmaster." He said, and Stormy let out a low whistle. "Rough. That must suck.' She said, and Helia threw his head back. 'Tell me about it!"

And so, the four talked for hours after, as Helia took the three of them to wander around the school. It was nice, as Helia seemed to have made some semblance of friends the next hour. From light joking to heavy sarcasm, the three were rather nice to talk to. Helia lost track of time, until Icy checked her watch. "Oh, it's 5:30. We should get going, or else Darcy's mom is going to wonder where the hell we are.' Helia slowly turned his head. 'Oh shit, did you say 5:30? Man, Saladin's going to have my head. He said to call if I was going to be late." He said, earning laughs from the three.

"Anywho, it's been great meeting all of you. Should we exchange numbers, or something?" Helia said, and Icy nodded, pulling out her sketchbook. Helia wrote his number down, and Icy wrote all three of theirs. Helia nodded, taking the three to the main entrance before parting ways.

Quickly, he found Griffin and explained the situation. The headmistress found it all too entertaining, and for the small price of making fun of him decided to tell Saladin she had kept him late and taken his phone so he could stay. A small price for friendship, he could say. And honestly? He wouldn't trade it for anything else.

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Hey pals! This is a little one-shot as I finish up writing the latest for Igor-Who! It's still being written, though I definitely know which direction it's going in now. Let's hope for an update this weekend!

This story was a hypothetical, alluding to the fact that if Helia is the same age as them in the second season, he must've joined a year early so the fact that he was gone for a year makes sense! What if he made some unlikely friends at this time?

Anywho, your reviews make my day! Stay classy, Winx fans - Lili


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